


Love Confession

by TinyTyper



Series: Fantober 2020 [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Fantober, Fantober2020, Fluff, FrostIron - Freeform, Idiots in Love, IronFrost - Freeform, Loki messing around, M/M, Magic, Runes, Sort Of, Tony being protective of his suit, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:28:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26731363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyTyper/pseuds/TinyTyper
Summary: He knew that Loki was aware he was being watched. Tony had been caught staring one too many times, but it didn’t deter him from doing it and the other man didn’t seem to care enough to ask him to stop.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark, Tony/Loki
Series: Fantober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940461
Comments: 4
Kudos: 55





	Love Confession

Tony was frustrated.

When he had agreed to let Loki stay with them all in the tower, he didn’t think that it would include having to share his workspace with the homicidal adoptee, yet here he was at three in the morning, staring over at the corner that the dark haired man had taken for himself. 

He had set up a large metal framed bookcase that was now filled with random gem shards, large leather-bound books and all manner of other materials, some of which Tony had never even seen before.  
Some were kept in glass jars, others – like the small bundles of strange plants and blooming flowers tied together with leather straps – were nestled away in little drawers each labelled in a language Tony didn’t understand. 

On a few of the shelves sat various tools and bowls, which Loki would use at the stone desk he had somehow managed to attain. The entire thing was a solid slab, inlaid with golden filigree of odd markings and all sorts of “weird voodoo things” As he had described to Thor. 

“Loki is a deceiver and a trickster, yes… But he is also incredibly knowledgeable in many things. My mother taught him about enchanting and rune work, things you would probably call ‘magic’ here on earth” Thor used air quotes around the word magic with a small smile and Tony had been left slightly baffled. “He’s probably just trying to fill his time”

“So you’re saying I just let him do this stuff in my workshop? What if he’s planning something?” Tony had crossed his arms as he watched Thor who levelled a stare back at him. 

“I would like to believe my brother has changed in many ways these past few months. And though you may not like to hear it, you are both the same type of person” At this point, Thor had moved to stand from where he had been seated at the breakfast bar in the kitchen. 

“I see the look on your face, Tony, but my point is true. Both of you are smart and scholarly, you both are interested in progressing your fields of study as far as you can, whether it be to help others, or just out of innate curiosity. If you give it time, you might find you share common interests” He finished with a smile and a gentle pat on Tony’s shoulder, before he had walked away, leaving the other man bewildered. 

Tony had been running Thor’s words over in his head since then and it was the consideration he gave them that saw him now glowering over at Loki across his workshop, watching him as he turned the pages of a particularly old book and carefully wrote something down, moving swiftly to grab a piece of blue tinted quartz from a shelf and crushing it in his hand, letting the powder fall into a beaker and dissipate in the dark green smoke that was swirling inside it. 

_At least it doesn’t look particularly murderous_ , he thought. If anything, he could keep an eye on the trickster and make sure he wasn’t getting up to mischief. He tore his eyes away from the gods work and turned to grab a towel, wiping the oil from his hands and continuing with his own project. _Who needs magic anyway?_

It didn’t take long before the first real issues started to arise. Tony had noticed that the god had started sprawling, slowly, taking up more and more room for himself and his weird witchy objects. Some days he would even find a tool or two of his lying on the stone table top and when he snatched them up, Loki would just smirk to himself and continue on with whatever it was he was doing that day. 

It was as if it was some sort of game between them. In the next few months, Tony had started moving some of Loki’s things too, taking some of the substances and ingredients and trying to see how many tests he could run before the god would stomp over and snatch them back. 

It wasn’t ideal and Tony resented the ongoing move into _his_ space, but he couldn’t deny that he was starting to have some fun. 

He took to making notes on what materials he could observe from watching Loki from a safe distance, but he found himself instead focusing on the other man’s habits, more than the tools he was working with. 

He noticed how he would gently leaf through each page of the old book he was reading, carefully turning the pages as if each one would fall to dust under his touch if he weren’t careful enough. 

He noticed that he liked to organise his materials in a specific order, that he was so used to each thing having its own place, he could reach out behind him to one of the shelves without even looking and manage to find exactly what he was looking for.

He noticed that whenever Loki had new things to look at, whether it be mysterious jars filled with substances of shifting shape and colour or a new, interesting plant life that Thor had found and delivered to him, he would carefully lay it out and make a drawing of it in his personal notebook. 

Sometimes it would be hours before he finished, taking time for each specific detail and when he was done, he would always have the perfect size container or empty space in a drawer to store them.  
Tony could see that he loved his work, whatever it was he was doing. Loki was impassioned about everything he did, rarely taking breaks until his brother came down and forced him to, and he found himself unable to tear his eyes away from watching him on many occasions. 

He was fascinated by how he could sometimes make things appear out of thin air or make flower petals burn but never wither in the flame. Tony knew better than to believe in magic, but he had been starting to doubt himself, finding himself more and more convinced in its existence as time went on.

He knew that Loki was aware he was being watched. Tony had been caught staring one too many times, but it didn’t deter him from doing it and the other man didn’t seem to be bothered enough by it to ask him to stop. 

So, when he walked down to the workshop one night to find Loki standing next to the suit Tony was currently working on, he couldn’t help but stop and hide in the doorway, so he could observe what magical thing he was clearly in the midst of. 

From this distance, it looked like he was scratching something into one of the metal backplates, and when he moved in the right way, Tony could see a small piece of something sharp glint in his hand. He would have stormed over and told him to stop, but Tony had noticed that instead of scraping, it was scoring the metal, cutting through it gently in a way that didn’t seem natural. 

After a few moments, he watched Loki step back to examine his work before walking over to grab a small vial from one of his shelves. He brought it over to the suit and unplugged it, letting the gold swirling liquid inside pour out over his hands. Tony watched enthralled as instead of dripping to the floor, the gold stayed fluid and flowing around his fingers. He noticed a slight movement and he glanced up to see Loki’s mouth was moving ever so slightly, as if he were whispering something to himself. 

As he did this, he reached out and touched the same place where he had cut the suit and Tony gazed unabashedly as the glinting liquid moved into the grooves, filling out each cut and score, glowing brightly as it completed its effort. Loki stood back again, no longer whispering. He took a moment to look fondly at his work and for the first time, Tony saw the trickster’s real smile. 

He honestly didn’t know what to think, but he didn’t have much time to gather himself before Loki glanced up at the doorway, his happiness seeming to dampen slightly as his shoulders dropped. 

“What are you two doing standing there?” he frowned, moving towards his stone worktop and waving a hand over it. Tony noticed the small sharp object disappear with a yellow gleam before his thoughts returned to logic. Two?

“I did not want to disturb you, brother. I’m sure Tony was thinking the same” 

Thor’s booming voice made him jump in surprise and he took a second to collect himself before pushing himself out of the doorway, trying to think of a suitable explanation.

“Actually, I was sort of wondering what you were doing touching my things” he ventured, making a beeline directly for his suit. He pretended not to notice as Loki folded his arms, watching him. His eyes went straight to the backplates where he could see two remarkably similar looking shapes, finely marked out in gold as if they had been drawn on by a marker. 

“Look, he’s done something to my suit, Thor, what the hell is this? Am I gonna be cursed or something?” he asked, turning to the thunder god who was making his way over. He glanced at Loki, noting that he was leaning against his desk with that same smirk on his face as he usually had, but this time, he thought he could see something else tucked behind it.

“Loki,” Thor began, leaning down to look at the offending marks. “This is incredible work. How did you manage this?” 

Tony turned to look up at him quizzically, but Thor ignored him, instead sending a smile in his brothers’ direction. Loki shifted under Thor’s gaze and the thunder god seemed to be amused with himself.

“Incredible? Just _look_ at my suit, the aesthetics will never be the same, and quite frankly, it’s just not my style” Tony complained, now also turning to face Loki who was picking at a mark in the stone worktop.

“Don’t be too rash, Tony. This is a good thing. These are not just marks, they’re runes and quite splendid ones at that” Thor grinned, turning to point at the marks on the suit. 

“This one here is Ægishjálmur,” he began to explain, pointing to the one on the left. “It is said to bring protection to you and induce fear in your enemies when you face them in battle. And this one,” he pointed to the other, that Tony could now see was entirely different from the first. “This is Vegvísir. It’s like a signpost, to help the bearer find their way through rough weather. Many people used to wear it as a pendant around their neck if they were planning a journey out to the rough sea”

Thor smiled to himself, turning back to his brother. 

“But what Loki has done is much better than just carving them into the metal. Can you not feel it? These runes are enchanted. They will serve you as proper protection if you wear the suit”

Tony glanced over at Loki who gave him a sheepish nod in return. Moving carefully, he turned and took a moment to really examine the marks that had been made. He could see the gold glinting in the lights of the workshop. It looked as if it was still moving, constantly flowing around the curves and lines of each sigil. He hadn’t noticed how delicate and intricate each one had been until now. It didn’t look like it should have been as easy to do as Loki had made it look.

He turned to look at the trickster who, he now realised, had been watching him, waiting for his reaction. 

Is that what Tony had seen a moment ago, hidden behind the smirk? Hesitation? Anxiousness? He probably thought that Tony would have gone crazy at the thought of the god messing about with one of his suits. 

“Um…” he tried, doing his best to force thoughts to form into cohesive sentences in his brain. “I guess I owe you a thank you”

He saw Loki’s eyebrows raise slightly in surprise and a soft smile tug at the corners of his mouth, but he didn’t say anything in return. 

Sensing that it was probably his time to go, Thor quickly excused himself, walking over to give Loki a pat on the shoulder and a knowing smile on his way out. 

They both watched him leave and after a moment Loki pushed himself off his worktop and walked around to close over the book that had been sitting open. Tony saw that the front and spine were covered in tiny writing, embossed into the leather, and he presumed it to be Nordic of some sort as most of Loki’s books were. 

He turned back to his suit and looked at the runes, admiring how they looked inlaid into the red. He could admit that they looked pretty nice and he made a mental note to himself to update the rest of the suit to match the new additions to the back panels.

As the two of them fell under silence, Tony turned and moved his way over to Loki’s workstation. 

The trickster paused as he went to pick up an empty vial and looked up at him. 

“I guess it doesn’t look too bad. I can probably pull it off” Tony tried at a joke, shrugging softly.

Loki smirked at him then, rolling his eyes huffing out a quiet laugh. He kept tidying his things, but Tony realised he was really just moving them back and forth from place to place, distractedly. 

“Why didn’t you just ask me if you could put them on the suit?”

Loki stopped and looked back up at him, throwing him a sceptical look. 

“Because you probably would have thrown a wrench at my head”

“Okay, fair point. I don’t usually like people touching my stuff,” Tony admitted, crossing his arms over his chest. “But you were doing something to help… protect me, right? I’m sure we could’ve worked out some kind of deal”

Loki sighed and furrowed his brow. 

“I didn’t do it because I wanted something in return, Tony”

Tony’s heart skipped a beat when he heard the other man say his name. They didn’t use first names, usually. It was a sort of unspoken rule between them in the workshop. If anything, Loki had called him by his last name only, and only when he was forced to talk to him outside of this room.

“So then why _did_ you do it?”

Tony watched as Loki seemed to be considering something before answering. He could practically see the fight he was having with himself about it, written across his face when he glanced up at Tony, a slight frown beginning to show. 

“Have you ever considered that I might not be entirely evil? That I have the capability to care for others and do nice things for them? It’s more peaceful knowing your loved ones will return from something dangerous, is it not?”

Tony was slightly taken aback. He hadn’t expected the openness and honestly in Loki’s voice. And the thought that he did this because he cared for Tony? Because he wanted to make sure he was safe? It was almost too much for Tony to comprehend hearing, so he retreated so something safe and tried to bring himself back with a joke.

“Yeah, I guess it is. But who would ever want to see me come back from a fight? I’m an _asshole_ ” 

For some reason, he found himself relieved to see Loki smile at that. It looked so genuine and he could tell that he was starting to relax slightly, the tension easing.

“I’m sure many people in this world are convinced that Tony Stark is, indeed, an asshole” he quipped. Tony smiled back at him, but a thought began to worm its way to the front of his mind, and he found he couldn’t stop himself from asking his next question. 

“And what about you? What do you think of me? Now that we don’t actively try and kill each other or anything”

Tony felt his heart lunge at the thought of fighting against Loki again. He was thankful that he was on their side now, especially if he were going to inlay runes of protection to make sure Tony wouldn’t end up running into something stupid without a plan to make it out safely.

Loki paused for a moment to consider his answer and Tony made the mistake of glancing up and catching his eyes.

He didn’t know what happened that made the air change and grow thick between them, but he felt himself unable to look away. It was as if he could feel static in the air, fuelled by something that was yet to be said, something that made his heartbeat just a little bit faster. 

“I think…” Loki started, keeping his voice low. “That there are many different Tony Starks, depending on who is in the room” 

He spoke quietly in the silence, placing his hands palm down on the worktop and leaning forward slightly. “But I would like to hope that there is one in there who would be interested in a little bit of mischief, maybe it’s even the same Tony Stark that I catch staring over at me across the room while I work…” 

Tony felt himself being drawn into the other man. He couldn’t bring himself to break the stare between them and he found himself moving in closer too, until their faces were only inches apart. 

“Oh, you noticed that did you?” he mused.

Loki chuckled lightly and the sound thrilled through Tony’s chest.

“How could I not? You aren’t the most subtle person in the world, Tony” he replied. 

The two of them fell into a fragile silence, neither one wanting to break it. This close, Tony could see the tiny gold flecks in the green of Loki’s eyes, noticed the slight flush to his cheeks against his pale skin, the raven black hair that was tied neatly back, a few strands gently falling around his forehead. 

He took a small breath to steady himself and before either of them could think about it, he closed the gap between them, connecting their lips together in a gentle kiss. 

Tony felt like fireworks were exploding in his head. He couldn’t rationalise his actions to himself right now, but he wasn’t paying enough attention to his brain to care. 

The kiss only lasted for a few seconds and as they both pulled away, he realised that there was a red flush moving up Loki’s neck. As his eyes fluttered open, Tony could feel himself grinning dumbly.  
“For the record,” Tony mused, causing Loki to look to him, slightly apprehensive. “I didn’t realise a god would be able to kiss like _that_ ” 

Loki rolled his eyes and started to laugh. 

“You’d be surprised at what gods can do these days Tony Stark” he replied, prompting Tony to move around to his side of the stone workbench. 

He tapped on his ark reactor, the blue hue glowing gently under his shirt. 

“I think my heart could stand to take another few surprises” he shrugged.

Loki glanced at it for a second before Tony pulled him in to catch his lips in another kiss. 

The night thereafter was full of many surprises, and truly… 

Tony couldn’t bring himself to complain about it once.

**Author's Note:**

> This one took me like three hours and started off in a completely different direction than this... But I love it anyway. I finished writing this at 5:30 in the morning so don't @ me >.>
> 
> I know there isn't a straight out confession of like "I love you" but the idea of Loki caring so much about Tony and just wanting him to come home safe at then of the day literally sent me so hard, so y'all are gonna have to DEAL WITH IT. But srsly the fluff is real you guys.
> 
> Frostiron is one of my fav ships ever and then to sprinkle it with some helpful and supportive big brother Thor just made me so happy. I actually looked up the runes that Loki inscribed into his suit and they're really cool designs and the meaning behind them is really interesting too, so I'd recommend you guys look them up too!
> 
> This is day four of #Fantober2020! Please check out the official Fantober account on twitter at [Fantober2020](https://twitter.com/fantober2020)


End file.
